Massachusetts senators: Delay net neutrality vote

Jim Haddadin Daily News Staff @JimHaddadin

Monday

Dec 4, 2017 at 11:17 PM

FRAMINGHAM — The Bay State’s two U.S. senators are asking the Federal Communications Commission to postpone a vote next week to dismantle net neutrality rules, saying the group is ignoring the will of the public.

Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey were among 28 senators who called on the FCC Monday to delay the Dec. 14 vote, which is expected to kill Obama-era regulations that ensure equal access to web content.

In a letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the senators said they believe the Republican-controlled commission is ignoring feedback from thousands of consumers who want net neutrality protections to remain in place.

They also voiced concerns that the public input process was tainted by scores of fake or fraudulent comments submitted by bots. The letter cites the findings of a six-month investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who concluded that "hundreds of thousands" of comments may have been submitted falsely using the identities of real people.

The senators are asking the FCC to call off next week's vote in order to investigate “anomalies" in the public record.

Other Democratic signatories include New Hampshire Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen and Rhode Island Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed. The two independents in the Senate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Maine Sen. Angus King, also added their names to the list.

"A transparent and open process is vitally important to how the FCC functions," their letter reads. "The FCC must invest its time and resources into obtaining a more accurate picture of the record as understanding that record is essential to reaching a defensible solution to this proceeding."

The letter comes amid rising public outcry against the FCC’s proposal, which would effectively eliminate net neutrality protections established in 2010.

The FCC at that time adopted rules that bar Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking legal web content or intentionally slowing down access to some types of services.

Supporters say the principle of net neutrality is fundamental to a free and open Internet, ensuring cable companies and ISPs cannot censor speech or charge more for certain content.

But Pai has criticized the FCC’s current approach, saying “heavy-handed” regulation saddles companies with unnecessary costs, stifling innovation and slowing investments — such as the development of high-speed Internet access in rural communities.

Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, was tapped by President Donald Trump in January to head the five-member FCC, which regulates radio, television, cable and Internet service across the country. He proposes rolling back the existing net neutrality rules, replacing them with a “light-touch regulatory framework” that would transfer oversight of ISPs to the Federal Trade Commission, an independent federal agency.

“By exploring ways to reduce needless red tape, the Commission hopes that these proposals will spur broadband deployment throughout the country,” reads a description on the FCC website, “bringing better, faster Internet service to more Americans and boosting competition and choice in the broadband marketplace.”

With the proposal expected to pass 3-2 on party lines next week, activists have ramped up public pressure on Congress to intervene. More than 768,000 people have called lawmakers to voice their opposition to the plan, according to the website battleforthenet.com.

Protests are also planned Thursday at Verizon stores across the country, including in Boston, where demonstrators will gather outside the telecom giant’s store on Boylston Street at 5 p.m.

Other demonstrations were planned outside Verizon stores in Malden, Holyoke, Pittsfield, Hadley and Hyannis. A group also planned to protest at the Ladd and Whitney Memorial on Merrimack Street in Lowell, according to Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and the Freepress Action Fund — a coalition of groups opposed to rolling back Internet protections.

Verizon will be targeted by demonstrators for its role in lobbying against net neutrality rules, according to an announcement from the three organizations.

“This is the free speech fight of our generation and Internet users are pissed off and paying attention,” Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, said in the announcement. “Ajit Pai may be owned by Verizon, but he has to answer to Congress, and lawmakers have to answer to us, their constituents."

Both of the Bay State's U.S. senators have publicly opposed rolling back net neutrality, as have at least seven of the state's nine representatives in the House. They include Democratic U.S. reps. Katherine Clark, Niki Tsongas, Jim McGovern and Joseph Kennedy III, whose congressional districts include parts of MetroWest and the Milford area.

Advocates are now calling on Bay State residents to pressure Western Massachusetts congressman Richard Neal and Rep. William Keating to also speak out against the expected repeal of net neutrality rules.

Keating, who represents Cape Cod and the South Shore, "opposes the FCC's recent efforts to repeal net neutrality rules," according to a statement issued Monday by his office.

Neal did not respond to a request for comment.

Tsongas, a Lowell Democrat who represents the 3rd District, said a free and open Internet has fostered innovation and economic development, driving the nation’s economic growth.

“Currently, the Internet is in the control of every individual who uses it,” Tsongas said in a statement, “giving users the freedom to choose which sites to visit and what content to access, helping to preserve and promote this innovation and progress. We should not hinder that by allowing big companies to dictate and profit off of what sites load slowly, quickly, or not at all.”

Lynch said he also plans to urge the FCC chairman to retain current net neutrality rules.

“We should not be handing power to cable companies at the expense of public access to information,” he said.

Jim Haddadin can be reached at 617-863-7144 or jhaddadin@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JimHaddadin

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